DESTRUCTION OF IMMATURE FISH 283 



In many places, of course, but little destruction 

 of young fishes may accompany shrimp trawling, 

 but the usual state of matters is that large quantities 

 of these animals, all too small to be of use for food, 

 are taken, and often destroyed. This is particularly 

 the case on the coast of Lancashire, where a large 

 shrimping industry is carried on. As many as 

 10,407 young plaice have been taken there in a 

 single drag with a shrimp trawl. I will quote, as 

 an example of the contents of a shrimp trawl, one 

 of many such experiments witnessed by myself. 

 In a two miles' drag there were caught 20 quarts 

 of shrimps, 896 dabs, 265 plaice, 257 soles, 285 

 whiting, and 18 skate, besides a large number of 

 inedible fishes, and the usual quantity of star-fish, 

 crabs, and other invertebrates. The majority of 

 the young flat fishes were from 1 1 to 2 inches long, 

 and the whiting were about 5 inches. The results 

 of some hundreds of such experimental trawls on 

 the Lancashire coast, extending over a period of 

 seven years, gave an average of 567 plaice caught 

 per haul of the shrimp trawl. 1 When the large 

 numbers of boats and men engaged in this locality 

 are considered, it is evident that the quantity of 

 young fishes of value, caught and destroyed in- 

 cidentally in shrimp fishing, must be enormous, 

 and is probably to be measured by the hundred 

 million annually. 



1 Report for 1901 of the Lancashire Sea- Fisheries Laboratory, 

 Appendix, p. 229. 



